From the Ashes

Who: Jon and William
When: Wednesday after dinner
Where: Jon's rooms
What: Discussion of Puffskeins

William had been walking down the hall, mind on something else completely, when a flutter of colour and movement had caught his eye. Wary observation, slow steps and liberal application of magic had revealed it to be a puffskein, undoubtedly escaped from one of Jon's classes. Or released by his students in the absence of their teacher, if the gossip of last week was to be believed. Continued observation showed that the reason the furry fiend had been so difficult to spot in the first place was because it had been hit with a chameleon charm. William undid the spell, shaking his head internally over students who practiced magic on animals, and then went chill when it had no effect. The puffskein continued to cheerfully change colours, and no amount of finite incantem would get it to stop.

He started to head out onto the grounds; then realised how late it was and turned back towards the tower where Jon resided instead. If he wasn't in his rooms, then William could start checking the grounds, but the tower was closer. He marched up to the door, puffskein in hand, and banged solidly on the wooden frame. Jon had requested information about puffskeins only last week. He ought to have an explanation for this. At the very least, he was undoubtedly aware of the issue.

Who: Mikey and Spencer
Where: Greenhouse 3
When: Wednesday night
What: "Disregard the wording."

Spencer's favourite thing about the greenhouses was that they were never really dark. Even when night fell, there were some plants who needed light all around the clock: strange, exotic breeds that naturally grew next to magical crystal formations that glowed, or seedlings rescued from the inside of volcanoes, who were used to glowing embers. At night, the greenhouse was lit up by any number of fake suns, and Spencer could wander through it and pick the time of day as he liked.

It was overgrown at the moment in Greenhouse 3, but the only students who got to come in here were his NEWT kids, and they seemed to find an overgrown environment more authentic, rather than a marker of Spencer's laziness and general indulgence when it came to the plants spreading out. He was pretty good at not tripping over roots, now, despite the predilection certain varieties had of reaching out and grabbing at him.

On this particular night, he was sitting at his desk with a pile of marking. It didn't need to be done for another week, really, but it was as good a way as any to keep himself occupied, and he'd mixed some Pepper-Up Potion into his coffee, enough to keep him from the overpowering need to lie down, even if he couldn't sleep, for a couple of hours. It kept him from drowsing off on a pile of parchments, anyway, which was becoming a steadily more frequent occurrence. Spencer was almost glad, actually -- it gave him a handful of minutes of sleep, but was uncomfortable enough to wake him up before the nightmares hit.

Now, he raised his eyebrows at Delilah Gwynth's explanation that some plants are more dangerous than other plants like the devil's snare which is because it wants to be left alone. Spencer circled the lack of capitals with red ink and scrawled Carnivorous?? next to the line, readying himself to face yet another small tantrum in the next class. Whenever that next class would be, and he stilled, taking an uneasy glance through the glass up at the castle.

Said glance, besides giving the strangely ominous sight of the castle up against the night sky, revealed a figure coming steadily towards the greenhouse, and Spencer stood up, blinking, wondering who was on their way down this late.